It's wack-a-mole, if you can hit the bid and offer fast enough, it's instant money!

On August 2nd, right after regular trading closed at 16:00, ELNK perfectly illustrates the illusion of modern trading. Gone are luddite meanings of bids and offers, where a bid really meant someone wanted to buy and an offer was a legitimate offer of stock. Today's bids and offers are beautiful to behold. And boythey are fast! How fast? Faster than you could ever hope to hit them. So shut up, sit back, and leave it to the professionals.

Nanex has been documenting these things for quite a while. This is a particularly ridiculous example, where bids and offers are entered and immediately yanked, 100 or 200ms (that's milliseconds) later. You, as a human, have a reaction time of more than 200ms, which means it's impossible for a human to ever hit those bids or offers.

But the HFT guys don't care, because someone does, and when they do, they make money. You, on the other hand, don't get what you're promised - that is, "National Best Bid or Offer", because as fast as a bid is "best" it suddenly is not before you can execute on it.

Incidentally, under the law any scheme intended not to execute an actual order but to play such a game appears to be illegal. Nanex has been documenting these in graphic and specific detail since the flash crash.

Can someone point to even one prosecution or shutdown of the HFT folks for doing this?

To paraphrase Jim DeMint: When you’re speeding toward the edge of a cliff, you don’t set the cruise control. You stop the car.

The current deal to raise the debt ceiling doesn’t stop us from going over the fiscal cliff. At best, it slows us from going over it at 80 mph to going over it at 60 mph.

This plan never balances. The President called for a “balanced approach.” But the American people are calling for a balanced budget.

This deal does nothing to fix the overreaches of both parties over the past few years: Obamacare, TARP, trillion-dollar wars, runaway entitlement spending. They are all cemented into place with this deal, and their legacy will be trillions of dollars in new debt.

The deal that is pending before us now:

· Adds at least $7 trillion to our debt over the next 10 years. The deal purports to “cut” $2.5 trillion, but the “cut” is from a baseline that adds $10 trillion to the debt. This deal, even if all targets are met and the Super Committee wields its mandate – the BEST case scenario is still $7 trillion more in debt over the next 10 years. That is sickening.

· Never, ever balances.

· The Super Committee’s mandate is to add $7 trillion in new debt. Let’s be clear: $2.5 trillion in reductions off a nearly $10 trillion,10-year debt is still $7 trillion in debt. The Super Committee limits the Constitutional check of the filibuster by expediting passage of bills with a simple majority. The Super Committee is not precluded from any issue therefore the filibuster could be rendered most. In addition, the plan harms the possible passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment. Since the goal is never to balance, having the BBA as a “trigger” ensures that the Committee will simply report its $7 trillion in new debt and never move to a BBA vote.

· Cuts too slowly. Even if you believe cutting $2.5 trillion out of $10 trillion is a good compromise, surely we can start cutting quickly, say $200 billion-$300 billion per year, right? Wrong. This plan so badly backloads the alleged savings that the cuts are simply meaningless. Why do we believe that the goal of $2.5 trillion over 10 years (that’s an average of $250 billion per year) will EVER be met if the first two years cuts are $20 billion and $50 billion. There is simply no path in this bill even to the meager savings they are alleging will take place.

Buried in the details of this bill there also appears to be the automatic Debt increase as proposed a few weeks ago. Second half of the debt ceiling is increased by President automatically and can only be stopped by two-thirds of Congress. This shifts the Constitutional check on borrowing from Congress to the President and makes it easier to raise the debt ceiling. This would cede debt ceiling to the President, and none of the triggers in this deal include withholding the second limit increase.

Debt agencies have clearly stated the type of so-called cuts envisioned in this plan result in our AAA bond rating being downgraded. Ironically then, the only way to avoid our debt from downgrading and the resulting economic problems that stem from that is for this bill or the resulting Super Committee to fail, so that a Balanced Budget Amendment can save our country.

This plan does not solve our problem. Not even close. I cannot abide the destruction of our economy, therefore I vigorously oppose this deal and I urge my colleagues and the American people to do the same.

President Wilson was one of the founders of war propaganda, yet we see it’s being used on Patriot Americans by our own government.

We see where the Congress passed the debt ceiling budget, both in the House and Senate. Not all, but even Republicans voted yes . We just didn’t have enough Patriots to put a stop to this insanity (repeating the same behavior over and over and expecting a different outcome) of borrowing more money that will not save our economy or country.

Bottom line, no public officials wants the inevitable collapse to happen on their watch. We did have a few Patriots that held strong to try and stop this insanity and bite the bullet to stop the impending collapse.

We know events will worsen with or without this bill. But now we see public officials using the Tea Party as scapegoats when the economy collapses.

We saw early in Obama’s own words regarding the comment describing us as clinging to guns and Bibles, accusing veterans of being the next generation of home grown terrorists. We saw our own Vice President call us terrorists yesterday. We had Harry Reid just this morning claiming the near default of America was the Tea Party’s fault. Sen. McCain calling us hobbits who can now return to Middle Earth.

One can see where this is leading. They are demonizing Patriots, just as Lenin, Stalin and Hitler used these same tactics to demonize a sector of their society.

We also see the liberal media picking up on this (who I consider useful idiots). Many media outlets have attempted to demonize the Tea Party movement from the very beginning as CNN did when they televised their reporter at one of the earlier Tea Party rallies a few years back.

The Tea Party movement from the beginning held peaceful rallies just to sound the alarm of our out of control federal government spending and entitlements that is unsustainable. We came out and spoke the truth or one may say we ‘revealed the truth to America’.

We now are being enslaved by debt, corruption and lack of virtue and mortality.

We all know how dangerous the truth can be: the truth can do one of two things. Set you free or get you destroyed or even killed as history has revealed to us.

I remain faithful to America and the US Constitution, but not our government as it stands now.

Well-entrenched in power and in full control of the three branches of government and the military, Republicans labeled any and all criticism of their war policy as rank treason. Clinging to the notion that Washington and Jefferson would approve of subjugating fellow Americans who sought liberty and free government, they wrapped themselves in the flag of the Founders while committing treason, as defined in the Constitution, themselves.

Bernhard Thuersam, ChairmanNorth Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commissionwww.ncwbts150.com"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"========Scoundrels Taking Refuge in Patriotism:

“[On] a cold, damp October evening in 1864, a crowd gathered in the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, to watch a parade in support of the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. The route was brightly lit by young men clad in protective oil-skin capes carrying kerosene torches. At the head of the parade was a splendid live eagle tethered to a flag-festooned perch and a brass band playing patriotic airs. Then came a horse-drawn wagon bearing “thirty-five beautiful young ladies, representing the States, with Columbia in the center.”

Behind them, marchers held aloft images of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and carried home-made “transparencies” – canvases illuminated by oil lamps or candles – displaying patriotic slogans such as “the three Ps we propose: Patriotism Perseverance, and Pluck.” The highlight of the parade, though, was undoubtedly a column of Union soldiers, guns at their shoulders, marching behind their regimental flags and drums. These men had been furloughed home from the battle front by sympathetic officers who wanted to help the President’s re-election campaign.

The bright lights were intended to symbolize national purification, an image emphasized by clergymen who spoke to the meeting earlier in the day. The crowd, many of whom had spent the afternoon listening to speeches and enjoying the free beer and hog roast provided by the [Republican] organizing committee, remained into the early hours “lustily” singing patriotic and sentimental songs such as “The Union Forever” and “Just Before the Battle Mother.”

This parade, with its potent mix of patriotic imagery, denunciation of [party] partisanship, and manifest partisan purpose, was typical of many hundreds of similar events that occurred in the North during the war.

But if there were to be elections, and if people were to become deeply divided over basic questions about what kind of nation they were fighting for, then the partisan form was unavoidable. Partisanship provided the organizing basis for Congress and State legislatures, guided policy making, and provided the indignation and moral outrage that was the stock in trade of many antebellum newspapers. Party appointees staffed the federal and State governments, and ran the post office and customs houses. Parties controlled the electoral process itself; they printed and distributed the ballot papers and even counted the votes.

As one Republican explained the situation in 1862, “the Administration party…really becomes the nation.” He could equally well have reversed the proposition. In refuting their own partisanship – insisting that they did “not deserve to be called a party” – Republicans wanted not just to win elections but to delegitimize and destroy their partisan opponents. Convinced that partisan opposition could never be respectable or constructive, that even organizing a Democratic public meeting carried the serious implication of treason, administration supporters fought the war against their internal enemies in the North as fiercely as they did against their Southern foes.”

From NC LS News Service

"On a humorous note, the News and Observer editorialized again on pardoning Governor William Woods Holden. While pleased that it passed the Senate, the N&O notes that without passage by the House that the pardon does not carry any legal force. I can tell you from conversations with key House members that it is a 90% certainty that this bill will not be voted upon in 2011. Much thanks is to be given to our State Chairman for his wonderful scholarship that bought the time needed to keep Holden relegated to the pages of infamy where he belongs.

My great, great Grandfather ***Bartholomew Figures Moore, The Father Of The NC Bar, words below.

"Holden's impeachment is demanded by a sense of public virtue and due regard to the honor of the state. He is an *exceedingly corrupt man and ought to be placed before the people as a public example of a **tyrant condemned and punished."

The Obama administration lost no time determining where to place primary blame for border violence. During a joint April 16, 2009, White House press conference with President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, President Obama stated that more than 90% of all guns recovered by Mexican authorities came from the United States. He had previously made the same claim in February of that year, further asserting that many of those firearms came from gun shops that line our border.

According to FactCheck.org, that 90% statistic is highly inflated because it “represents only the percentage of crime guns that have been submitted by Mexican officials and traced by U.S. officials.” Mexico actually recovers many more guns than it submits to the U.S. In December 2008, Mexican Attorney General Eduadro Medina Mora put the number of the country’s recovered crime weapons over the preceding two years at 29,000. Assuming that the total reported 10,347 guns seized and given to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for tracing by Mexican authorities during 2007 and 2008 is an accurate number, only about 36% of all recovered crime weapons in Mexico came from U.S. sources.

Still, that exaggerated 90% figure continued to be touted as gospel by gun control advocates. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated in March 26, 2009 on CBS’s Early Show: “We have to recognize and accept that the demand for drugs from the United States drives them north, and [of] the guns that are used by the drug cartels against the police and the military, 90% come from America.”

During a March 17, 2009, Congressional hearing on the subject, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said: “According to ATF, more than 90% of the guns seized after raids in Mexico have been traced right here to the United States.” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) chimed in, adding: “It is unacceptable to have 90% of the guns that are picked up in Mexico used to shoot judges, police officers, mayors, kidnap innocent people and do terrible things come from the United States, and I think we must stop that.”

There was no doubt at all about whom they intended to stop. The targeted culprits were those border state gun shops.

The Fall of the House

by David Yeagley · August 2, 2011

It is the fall of the House, and the Senate. The “debt crisis” has been going on for months in Congress, and BadEagle.com has said nothing about it. Now that the United States Congress, both the House and the Senate, with the illegal signature of the illegal traitor in the Oval Office, have all demonstrated their anti-American values, I think it is appropriate to say just a word.

But not all. Michele Bachmann stands at the helm of those Tea Party patriots, and she voted “no” on the debt deal, having been against it from the beginning, based on principle. She even voted “no” on Cut, Cap, and Balance–because it was inadequate. Opponents of the debt deal have been demonized, but they are the only true Americans when it comes to very basic, constitutional principles. Among talk show hosts, Mark Levin was first to call this debt “compromise” deal what it is–complete failure of constitutional principle. Rush Limbaugh has certainly dramatized the failure of the Congress. He calls it fear. Republicans fear being blamed, being criticized, being called names. Republicans are cowards. Never mind their principles–which most of them compromise at the slightest challenge, rather than be criticized.

Michele Bachmann, the Tea Party representative in DC, oneof the few who votes from principle, not for political advantage.

Talkers like Laura Ingraham pride themselves on “compromise” as being better than nothing. They base their decision on myopic party moves, or political strategy, not principle. But, part of a principle is not that principle. The principle is compromised, therefore nullified completely. Politics, however, is all about compromise these days. Republicans are politicians–and very, very weak ones at that.

There is no point in lauding “compromise” or “reaching across the isle” when it means the sinking of American economy, and thus destroying the nation. There is nothing honorable in “yielding” place to the enemy, Republican of Democrat. Republicans have failed. The Tea Party just isn’t quite large enough to prevail, yet.

This entire debt crisis was fabricated–by the Democrats and their leaders, with the cooperation of Republican leaders. It was artificial from the beginning, like every other “crisis” Black Barry has created since he false swore to be “president.” It’s all about ruining America through economic chaos. That is the Communist playbook plan, well articulated by Sol Alinksky and demonstrated by the Cloward-Pivens initiatives–all plainly exposed in The Shadow Party (2006), by Richard Poe and David Horowitz. Poe has appeared on Glenn Beck programs many times talking about all this.

Washington is now political Hollywood. It’s all scripted and theatrical. It’s all about recesses, vacations, and appearances. This is where the “deadlines” come from. They fraudulently create “crises” dates, based on their own personal and political convenience.

And it’s about ‘us versus them,’ or, the governors versus the governed. The irony is that we elect them–the governors. Only they weren’t elected to govern. They were elected to represent us, we the people. WE, the people, are the governors. It is government ‘by the people.’

Washington is a diseased place. They that go there, with rare exception, become diseased. They are infected within weeks after arriving. I think it’s called bribery. They are controlled by senior congressmen, lobbyists, etc., and they are generally bought off. The disease is called money.

The scripted artifice and vomitable effrontery was most triumphant when Gabriel Giffords made her first appearance on the floor of Congress after she was shot last January. She came the moment the House passed the death sentence on the American economy. She came to celebrate the victory. This glorious appearance was supposed to congratulate the comprise, and award all those who had struggled so hard to destroy the economy.

BadEagle.com has spoken in behalf of Gabriel Giffords from the day she was shot. Out of pure human sympathy, we have supported her, prayed for her, and encouraged those caring for her to buoy up her spirits with faith. We have waited patiently for some sign of gratitude to God on her behalf. We have heard nothing, from any quarter. And now she makes a perfectly timed appearance to celebrate the demise of America. Shall we put two and two together?

And they’re calling Senator Harry Read, senate majority leader, “Leader Read.” This is a distinct echo of Nazi Germany. They called Hitler der Fürher, “the leader.” Leader Read. Fürher Read. Incredibly obvious. How blatant can they be? Media trends, is that what we’re to wright it off as? Nazi Germany was a media trend, in the beginning.

The Tea Party will have to make another giant effort for this 2012 election. For now, says Limbaugh, “We’re living in a ponzi scheme.”Democrats continue to demonize wealth–wealth that the Democrats want to control that is, and, as Führer Read says the government will now continue to pursue the wealthy, to tax them, to redistribute wealth, and to create larger government, and to make more and more people dependent on the government.

[W]e don't have two competing parties in Washington. We have one-party governance, totally unresponsive to the will of the people and the rule of law. Republicans and Democrats represent two wings of the same party – both of which, at the end of the day, don't really covet a return to constitutionally limited government.

Disaster?

Catastrophe?

Outrage?

Yes, but none of these words even comes close to adequately characterizing the betrayal perpetrated by the Republican establishment in Washington over the last few days.

The era of big government is back with a vengeance – and apparently here to stay.

There are no limits. There are no restraints. There is no accountability. There is no end to red ink as far as the eye can see.

As I have been telling you for ten years, voting Republican will NEVER be a panacea for the cornucopia of ills that have rendered America a revenant. There probably is no panacea, as it is hard to envision any workable solution that does not involve the division of the country into at least three parts. There simply aren't the votes to "take back America" because too many nominal Americans dislike historical America, disvalue its freedoms and despise its Constitutional values.

And, thanks to the post-1965 influx of third-world immigrants, there will never be the votes. No Hispanic nation, no African nation, no Arabic nation, and very few European nations have EVER placed any value on "the rights of Englishmen" that were asserted in the Declaration of Independence. One need only read the aberrant parodies of the Declaration in the various UN and EU versions or national constitutions to see this is the case. Mere change of geographic location has not sufficed to significantly modify the core philosophies or ideologies, or in many cases, even the national identities of those immigrants.

It is time to pull out of the Republican Party altogether. This may mean that Obama will win a second term if he is not put out to pasture by the Democratic Party elders during the nomination process. This will almost surely mean that there will be no meaningful opposition in Washington to the bi-factional ruling party in 2012 and possibly 2014.

But the complete inability of the Republican Party to do anything of substance, to cut so much as a single dollar from the current amount of spending, means that the "realistic" forty-year strategy of "elect more conservative Republicans" has completely failed. It failed when Reagan was elected. It failed in 1994. It failed when Republicans held the White House and both houses of Congress. It has failed after the 2010 success of the Tea Party. Because it is clear that it is no longer even possible to prevent the bi-factional swan dive from the economic Tarpeian Rock, it is time to shift focus and to begin preparing for the post-mortem rebuilding.

From the Twitter rumor mill: If you're a Senator and vote NO on the debt bill, you're ineligible for the "super-committee."

So if you, in good conscience, cannot permit a bankrupt entity to borrow even more money, then you can't be part of the solution to going more bankrupt.

And let's be clear about this: There's no bank in the world that would lend to a private person or institution that had a total debt of some seven times it's gross revenue.

(Hint: Go try to get a mortgage with that sort of debt profile. You'll get laughed out of the building - well, you will now. In 2005 with an OptionARM? No problem - just go "NINJA". Of course we know how that ended, right?)

Last year I wrote about Ted White and his five year nightmare. Mr. White spent five years in prison after a police officer, who was sleeping with his wife, perjured himself in court. The officer’s testimony helped secure to Mr. White’s wrongful conviction for child molestation. Mr. White was eventually exonerated and released after it was learned that the prosecution knew of the the officer’s affair with Mr. White’s wife and that the prosecution was most likely complicit in the perjury.

After his release Mr. White filed a lawsuit against the city of Lee’s Summit Missouri, the chief of police, and the officer himself, Detective Richard McKinley. In 2006, as part of a settlement that would remove the city from the lawsuit, Lee’s Summit city government agreed to pay “any final judgment entered by the court in favor of White”, which indemnified Detective McKinley. In 2008 the court ruled that McKinley had violated White’s due process rights by withholding evidence. The court awarded White almost $16 million. Lee’s Summit then refused to pay. Lee’s Summit’s mayor, Randy Rhoads, said that “Despite an indemnification agreement which removed the city as a defendant in this case, it has been determined after an extensive review that paying for any damages would be a violation of city ordinances.” Rhoads went on to say that when the agreement was signed there was no way to know that the verdict would rule that McKinley violated White’s Constitutional rights and that “In light of the verdict, it’s unlawful under ordinance for the city to indemnify the defendant, Lee’s Summit city ordinances specifically state that if a city employee violates the rights of another person, the city shall not indemnify that employee.”

Earlier this this year, U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey threatened Lee’s Summit with a crime fraud hearing if they did not pay up. The city of Lee’s Summit has now changed course and has agreed to a settlement of $15.5 million. Mr. White will finally get some justice, but what he really wants is his children back in his life. He has not seen them since his ordeal began.

When speaking of of moving on, Mr. White said “There is no room in a person’s heart for hate or revenge, so true forgiveness was the only way for me to take back control of my life…The detective stole my children — how hard is that for me to get past that? I haven’t seen them for years. They are worth more to me than $15 million…I used to pray for that man to take care of my children, and he was the one who put me in jail."

2 Detroit MI cops subject of suit by ex-Army medic claiming they rammed his car then beat him while he was cuffed. [3] http://ow.ly/1vf3jJ

Miami Beach FL settles suit for $75k to gay man claiming cops uttered homophobic slurs as they beat him then arrested him for calling 911 to report seeing the officers kick a man in the head. [0] http://ow.ly/1veMK8

Maricopa County AZ is being sued by 4 people arrested at a protest including a protester claiming deputies repeatedly kicked him after he was cuffed, a protester claiming she was denied treatment, and two legal observers claiming they were falsely arrested and detained longer than they should have been. [3] http://ow.ly/1veQga

An overwhelming majority of voters nationwide want members of Congress to take a pay cut until the federal budget is balanced, and a plurality also thinks the president should chop his salary in half until that time.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 82% believe members of Congress should take a 25% pay cut until the federal budget is balanced. Only 14% disagree. (To see survey question wording, click here .)

In August of last year , 75% of Likely Voters said more generally that Congress should cut its own pay until the federal budget is balanced.

Nearly half of voters (48%) also believe the president should take a 50% pay cut until the federal budget is balanced. But 41% don’t share that view, while 11% more are undecided.

The day when a balanced budget comes is a long way off, according to most voters. Just 30% think it is at least somewhat likely that the federal budget will be balanced for even a single year during their lifetimes . That includes only nine percent (9%) who say it’s Very Likely.

Went to CostCo today. Either America has developed a taste for Mexican food in previously unknown quantities or the natives are restless and stocking up…that is, if the amount of toilet paper being purchased was anything to go buy. A pack o’ CostCo TP is 36 rolls…thats gonna last quite a while (unless, of course, there are Gyno-Americans in your household). Everyone who was buying the stuff was buying it two cases at a time…and, no, it wasnt on sale. It’s funny, you’d think that in a crisis people would be eating less and therefore the toilet paper requirements would correspondingly be less. Unless, of course, the TP is to be used as new currency…in which case the current currency will become TP.

But seriously…walking through CostCo just puts me in mind that theres no reasonably intelligent reason that I can fathom to NOT stock up on anything and everything that you’ll use regularly and keeps well. Like what? Oh, just off the top of my head…soap, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste, dental floss, toothbrushes, socks, underwear, shoes, clothes, motor oil, cookware, bedding, eyeglasses, sponges, brooms, light bulbs, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, ziploc baggies, etc, etc, etc. Pretty much anything you would normally use and/or replace within a year or so. Why? ‘Cause it ain’t gonna get cheaper, assuming its even available.

Everyone in Washington is patting themselves on the back and congratulating themselves for dodging a bullet (except for Rep. Giffords, of course) and, really, if you look at what was actually done all thats happened is the can has been kicked down the road. From what I read the only real way to deal with this debt issue, assuming that they want to deal with it at all, is to inflate their way out of it. And while a rising tide lifts all boats, an inflated currency won’t screw over just the people that are holding the debts based in that currency. As the dollar is inflated to pay off the debts, it will also do some ugly things to whatever dollar denominated savings you have. Or, at least, thats how I see it with my minimal background in economics.

I’m reminded of a story/joke I read somewhere. A guy goes into suspended animation. He’s re-animated 500 years later. As he’s being debriefed, he asks how his investments had done. He had planned carefully and threw all his money into long term investments. The guy debriefing him tells him that over the course of 500 years there were, of course, fluctuations in the market..some years his investments lost money and some years they did amazingly well. As it stands, his investments have matured to the point where he has $900 million in the bank. The guy is flustered. He never thought he’d do that well. He says he wants to celebrate and could the man debriefing him recommend a place for a celebratory meal? He says ’sure’…theres a great steakhouse around the corner and you can get a New York strip and baked potato for only $300 million, $500 million with a nice wine.

Remembrance

To die for one’s country is not only an act of bravery, it is THE act of bravery. For soldiers, it is just an extension of their military career, a part of their duty. As leaders have asked their soldiers to sacrifice themselves for the good of the society, it is only right for leaders to go through the same motion. They should practice what they have preached.

As war is seen as a noble act, tu sat serves as redemption in case of defeat. It is also a way to tell the enemy: “You might have won the battle/war but you don’t deserve to win because you don’t have the chinh nghia (just cause).” And it is not only just cause: it is the moral belief that the cause they are fighting for deserves their total sacrifice. Continues below

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
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My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
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My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
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*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
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*The Attack On Fort Stedman
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"His Colored Friends"
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Lee's Surrender
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My Black NC Kinfolks
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Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.